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Today in Washington: President Obama to tout benefits of health care law

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President Barack Obama will deliver a speech at the White House today touting the economic benefits of his health care law. More than 633,000 New Yorkers will receive rebates from health insurance providers averaging $92 per family. Obama is pictured speaking at Georgetown University in Washington on June 25.
(Evan Vucci | The Associated Press)

Washington -- President Barack Obama will speak at the White House today about the economic benefits of his landmark health care law, drawing attention to insurance rebates due to be paid this summer to 8.5 million people.

Obama will be joined at the White House by families who are due to receive some of the $500 million in rebates to be paid out by insurance companies that failed to spend at least 80 percent of customer premium dollars on medical care. The rebates will average about $100 per person, according to the White House.

In New York, 633,802 consumers will receive $31.1 million in rebates on their health insurance premiums, averaging $92 per family, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Obama's speech follows Wednesday's Republican-led effort in the House of Representatives to delay two key parts of Affordable Care Act. The House voted to delay the requirements for most Americans to have health insurance, and for employers to offer the coverage.

The White House had already announced it would delay the employer mandate until 2015, and Republicans argued individuals should have the same extra year as businesses.

Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, was among 22 Democrats who joined 229 Republicans to pass the one-year delay for individuals. The final vote for passage was 251-174. Maffei also joined 35 Democrats who voted for the bill to codify the existing delay in the employer mandate, which passed 264-161. Maffei voted for the Affordable Care Act during his first term in office in 2009.

The House bills stand little chance of being considered in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and President Obama has threatened vetoes. The votes Wednesday marked the 38th time House Republicans tried to eliminate, defund or scale back the health care law since January 2011